Crossmichael residents fear noisy traffic is having an impact on their health.
The community council has carried out a survey of locals to see the extent of problems being caused by vehicles on the A713.
And the group was surprised to discover that nearly three-quarters of residents on Main Street reported their sleep was suffering, with a third fearing their health was being impacted.
Community councillors are now calling for action, including an overnight curfew and alternative routes for log lorries.
Richard Middleton, chairman of Crossmichael and District Community Council, said: “Folk who live on Main Street have been grumbling about the traffic for years and part of what they grumble about has been the noise.
“It was quite clear before we even did the survey it was keeping people awake at night, it was troubling them and making them unwell.
“Having said that, I think we were all a bit taken aback by the sheer strength of feeling from the survey results. People feel quite strongly about it and feel their health is struggling quite badly.
“Getting as much of this traffic off these roads as possible is one option. There are some other parts of the country where there are dedicated strategic timber routes.
“At the Forest of Ae the journey for a lot of that timber is mostly on dedicated roads and it’s not upsetting anybody. We haven’t got that here and you just wonder why not.”
The report reveals the World Health Organisation believes noise pollution can be linked to a number of problems, including hypertension, ischemic heart disease, type two diabetes and psychological and mental health issues, while night-time noise has been linked to a string of major sleep problems.
A total of 53 people responded to the community council survey, with nearly half of them living on Main Street – part of the busy A713 Ayr to Castle Douglas road.
Ninety per cent of them reported the noise from forestry traffic was causing significant annoyance, 68 per cent said commercial delivery vehicles were a problem, with tractors just behind on 63 per cent.
Mr Middleton said: “A particular problem, especially at certain times of the year, is farm traffic. I’m a farmer myself so I don’t say it lightly.
“During silaging season especially, some of these guys are travelling up and down the road sometimes very fast and noisily, sometimes very late at evening and very early in the morning.
“One thing that surprised me was there is quite a lot of traffic from farm supply lorries during the hours of darkness.
“There’s more than one sector of HGV traffic producing noise. Having said that timber lorries are probably the single biggest factor.”
The report reveals community councillors would like to see an “urgent programme of discussion with a view to initiating necessary action” with interested parties such as councillors, MSPs and business representatives.
Potential action includes a 20mph speed limit – something that is already in the pipeline for Crossmichael – and a management framework, possibly including an overnight curfew.
Dedicated timber roads taking lorries straight on to major routes such as the A75 – or even a railway network – and a push for electric HGVs are also ways to improve the situation.
“But this should not give them a free pass. At the moment, their profitability depends on externalizing many of their costs, that is, transferring them on to ordinary citizens and public bodies.”
